Missing Dog Worried Her Family To Pieces, Then Did The Darndest Thing

Stories about the bond between pets and their owners are timeless. The timing of a missing dog in Florida’s return home makes her story even more so.

Athena, a German shepherd and husky mix, slipped out of her Green Cove Springs home in mid-December and went on a walkabout that took her about 20 miles from home, according to the dog’s owner, Brooke Comer.

“She was the hide-and-seek all-time grand champion,” Comer told The Associated Press. “With every sighting, my heart jumped, and it honestly was excitement and then your heart’s crushed because we were always one step behind.”

During the early morning hours of Christmas Eve, nine days after Athena’s great escape, Comer’s doorbell rang.

It was Athena. Athena rang the doorbell. She trotted right up to the front door, jumped up and rang the doorbell, “happy to be home,” Comer said.

• Read the story: Dog Rings Doorbell On Christmas Eve After 9-Day Walkabout

Modeling Jimmy Carter

As Jimmy Carter was honored Thursday as a humble servant who put his faith in action practically from his first breath, a man in New Rochelle, New York, paid his own tribute with memories of times they’d rolled up their sleeves together on Habitat for Humanity projects, one of the former president’s greatest passions.

Jim Killoran, who now leads a faith-based nonprofit that closes housing gaps in Greater New York City, worked with Carter on multiple projects. They ranged from the single project that inspired Killoran to pursue a path of service to a “blitz build” in South Central Los Angeles powered by 1,800 volunteers that “changed the whole neighborhood.”

Carter was the real deal, disinterested in photo ops and driven by the simple but powerful tenet that “no one should be homeless,” Killoran told Patch.

“This day should not be a national day of mourning but of celebration of Jimmy Carter,” he said. “ Let’s all pick up a hammer. Let this be a clarion call: that we should build homes — homes, not rentals — in every town and city in New York.

“Simple, decent,” he said. “That’s the American dream.”

• Read the Patch Exclusive: Inspired By Working Alongside Jimmy Carter, Housing Nonprofit Leader Puts His Faith Into Action, Too

A Symmetrical Welcome To 2025

The symmetry in Anthony Amos’ farewell to 2024 and welcome to 2025 was close to perfect (top photo).

As the year ended, Amos took the left hand of Marena Monterrosa and placed an engagement ring on her finger, pleading his love and affection. On Jan.14, he’ll raise his right hand and swear his allegiance to his community as a newly elected council member in Fairfax City, Virginia.

Amos said in a Facebook post announcing his engagement that he “could never have anticipated” the profound turns his life would take in 2024. Of his blessings, Monterrosa is the greatest, he said.

“Walking alongside me through the trials and accomplishments was the strongest, most incredible person I have ever met. I wouldn’t be where I am today without her. I’m very lucky,” he wrote.

“I love you, Mare Mont. Let’s do the ‘for life’ thing,” he added.

• Read the story: ‘Let’s Do This For Life Thing’

Getting Into Andy Warhol’s Head …

Have you ever wanted to live inside Andy Warhol’s head when he created the iconic Campbell's Soup Can series, the Marylin Diptych, the Chelsea Girls film and other works of art that defined his career?

If so, living in his apartment on New York City’s Upper East Side may suffice. The four-floor, pre-war townhouse is for rent, at the tune of $22,550 a month.

Andy Warhol’s apartment on New York City’s Upper East Side is for rent. He produced those and other iconic works there after having purchased it in 1960 for $60,000.

• Read the story: Live Like Andy Warhol Did

… And Into Tom Hanks’ Head

People living on Long Island are the latest to have a chance to get into actor Tom Hanks’ head and understand his typewriters during an exhibit featuring 35 typewriters hand-chosen by the avid collector.

Hanks said in an NPR interview that he finds typewriters “reassuring, comforting, dazzling in that here is a very specific apparatus that is meant to do one thing, and it does it perfectly.”

“Short of carving words into stone with a hammer and chisel, not much is more permanent than a paragraph or a sentence or a love letter or a story typed on paper,” he said.

The exhibit, set to open Saturday, continues through early March at The Church, an art center at 48 Madison Street in Sag Harbor, New York.

• Read more: Experience Tom Hanks’ Love For Typewriters